Hartigan Links Foes To All Of State`s Woes

SPRINGFIELD — Adopting a theme used by his gubernatorial primary opponent, Atty. Gen. Neil Hartigan insisted Wednesday that former U.S. Sen. Adlai Stevenson and Gov. James Thompson ``must accept primary responsibility`` for the state`s decline.

Stevenson, who formally announced his candidacy Tuesday, charged that both Hartigan and Thompson represent politics as usual and said they are products of the political ``buddy system.``

But on Wednesday, Hartigan attempted to link Stevenson and Thompson, portraying the two candidates as being unattentive to the state`s problems.

Hartigan said Stevenson attended only 24 percent of his committee hearings in the Senate during the last 6 years of his 10 years as U.S. senator. He added that Stevenson voted 33 times to increase taxes in his first term in the Illinois House, which began in 1965.

``Separately and together, they have done more to create the mess that Mr. Stevenson now promises to clean up,`` Hartigan said, referring to Stevenson and Thompson in press conference at the Capitol. ``It is they who must accept primary responsibility for Illinois` recent decline.``

But David Axelrod, a spokesman for Stevenson, said the former U.S. senator didn`t ``waste his time sitting in committee hearings that were irrelevant`` to issues affecting the state. He said Hartigan exaggerated the number of times Stevenson voted for tax increases, saying ``it was about half that.``

Under questioning, Hartigan acknowledged that he changed his position on the state`s mandatory seat-belt law, a charge Stevenson had leveled on Tuesday.

Hartigan said he supported the seat-belt law in a 1984 Illinois Senate Transportation Committee hearing. But the attorney general said he now believes the mandatory law is excessive governmental intrusion.

Hartigan said that if he had been governor last year, he would have vetoed the controversial mandatory law, which took effect July 1 and requires drivers and their front passengers to buckle up or face a $25 fine.

He said, howver, that he wears a seat belt and that ``based on the statistics that I`ve read, it makes some sense.``

``I guess changing your position is better than having no position at all, which is what he often has,`` Axelrod said.